The Journal just posted a piece about the White House thought process as it weighs whether or not to reappoint Ben Bernanke. The piece had this to say about the leading candidates to replace him if the decision is "not" (besides Larry Summers, who's widely presumed to be the frontrunner):
Before making a decision later this year, the White House also is expected to look at other economists, including Roger Ferguson and Alan Blinder, former Fed vice chairmen; Janet Yellen, president of the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank; and Christina Romer, chairman of Mr. Obama's Council of Economic Advisers.
I'm high on pretty much all these people, so this is not a process that gives me indigestion. That said, I've been very impressed with Bernanke's performance during the crisis, for reasons I've mentioned before. Given how conservative an institution the Fed is, and how important it was to respond in an aggressive, unorthodox way, I think Bernanke will turn out to have been a pretty remarkable figure when we look back on this period several years or decades from now.
--Noam Scheiber